23G

• Board Meeting Date: 4/30/2004
• Description: 23G
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Executive Session

Creek fails to protect and enhance the portion of the Cache la Poudre River designated as "wild"
under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (WSRA), 16 U.S.C. §§ 1271 -1287. La Poudre Pass Creek
is a tributary to this segment of the Cache la Poudre. "Wild" rivers are defined under the WSRA
as "[t]hose rivers or sections of rivers that are free of impoundments and generally inaccessible
except by trail, with watersheds or shorelines essentially primitive and waters unpolluted. These
represent vestiges of primitive America." 16 U.S.C. § 1273(b)(1).
Each component of the national wild and scenic rivers system shall be
administered in such manner as to protect and enhance the values which caused it
to be included in said system without, insofar as is consistent therewith, limiting
other uses that do not substantially interfere with public use and enjoyment of
these values. In such administration primary emphasis shall be given to protecting
its esthetic, scenic, historic, archeologic, and scientific features. Management
plans for any such component may establish varying degrees of intensity for its
protection and development, based on the special attributes of the area.
16 U.S.C. § 1281(a)(emphasis added).
Plaintiffs contend that the absence of minimum bypass flows from Long Draw Reservoir to La
Poudre Pass Creek negatively affects the scenic, scientific and recreational values for which the
Cache la Poudre was designated as a wild and scenic river.
The FEIS concluded that adoption of either Alternative A or B would have no effect on
the Wild and Scenic River values because the designation was based on the current streamflow
and recreation use on the Cache la Poudre. (AR -LD at 3117.) It is significant both as a matter of
fact and as of law that the Cache la Poudre was designated a Wild and Scenic River although
Long Draw Reservoir had been largely dewatering La Poudre Pass Creek during the winter for
over sixty years. It is significant as a matter of fact because that flow regime created the
conditions and values recognized as "outstandingly remarkable" by the designation of the Cache
la Poudre. It is significant as a matter of law because when Congress designated the Cache la
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